Fighting Wage Theft is a Priority for the City of San Jose

Recognizing the fundamental social problem of ignoring wage theft violators, San Jose City Council voted on June 23, 2015 to make fighting wage theft one of its priorities for the year. Though all priorities are intended to be treated on the same level, it is incredibly telling that wage theft got the most votes of any issue being considered for prioritization (8 out of 11). As always, we thank Councilmembers Magdalena Carrasco, Don Rocha, and Ash Kalra for their tireless support of this issue.

Justice at Work Law Group and the Wage Theft Coalition also celebrate another milestone this summer. As of June 1, 2015, Crazy Buffet – the Sunnyvale restaurant that had 21 judgments against it for unpaid wages, that owed $2 million in wages and penalties to workers and penalties to the State, and stayed in business and exploited people for over TEN YEARS – closed its doors. It is not ideal for businesses to simply shut down because that makes it much more difficult for workers to recover the money that they are owed. However, bad actors such as Crazy Buffet should never be allowed to stay in business because their business model relies on exploiting the most vulnerable of our communities.